Haan / Bergischer Geschichtsverein Haan

A head fragment from a medieval baptismal font here is noted in Wolfgang Wenning's "Der sogenannte "Daria-Kopf" aus der ehemaligen Pfarrkirche in Haan" in Hildener Jahrbuch 1960: 121-139. Pol Herman writes on an e-mail to BSI: "in 1973, during an archeological dig at the old church of Haan, further stone fragments of the font were found (they carry no decoration). A reconstruction drawing was attempted. In 1991, Harro Vollmar must have written about it, but I found no trace on Internet. Maybe it is noted in the book GESCHICHTE DER STADT HAAN. The head is preserved at the local historical society Bergischer Geschichtsverein Haan e.V, in the "Stöcken Haus", Stöcken 1, 42781 Haan, tel. +49 (173) 6191524". Herman also provides an English translation of a relevant German text in Wenning [cf. supra]: "The strange adventures of the stone head of Haan. The "Daria head" (as it is called in Haan) from the old Haan church was rediscovered in 1936. What had happened to it ? The preservation of this fragment of a baptismal font is not thanks to the exercise of artful prudence, but to a prank of a dissatisfied bricklayer. When in 1869 the Haan citizen Daniel Balken built the still standing house at Friedrichstrasse 38 , the construction workers were so angry about the refusal to hold the usual topping-out ceremony that they wanted to tease the building owner by sticking the stone head, remains of the old church recently dug out, between the two gable windows of the new building. The builder apparently took no offense and left the item in the wall. Over time it disappeared under repeated painting. In 1936, the house owner at the time, Friedrich Schmidt, allowed the head to be removed, which was then brought to the local history museum. It only stayed there for three years, since the museum's collection was relocated when the war broke out in 1939. Because of the looting at the end of the war in 1945, the 'Daria head' would probably have been lost for good, had it not been for the Haan factory owner and lover of local history Jakob Litsch would have succeeded in securing it; it has been in his custody ever since."